Run and Love
by SettingSunflowers
Summary: A story of some of my characters, Daemon, and a human baby girl he found he named Zuri. Other characters of mine make appearances as well. Daemon struggles to keep the babe he found abandoned in the mountains as he's being chased by humans who want to take her back and kill him.
1. prologue

A pair of large green eyes stared down at the wiggling basket in the inch deep snow. Chubby little arms waved towards them, a giggle emanating from the soft blankets.

A pair of talons inched closer to the basket, a gust of icy wind ruffling the dust colored feathers of the tall creature and causing the babe within the basket to shudder, arms retreating against its chest as it tried to warm itself up and let out a small whimper.

The bird like figure leaned down, curious. It's humanlike face just inches above the small peachy child as it sniffed it. The babe giggled as the bird's warm breathe beat softly against it, and reached out once more.

The harpy flinched, and retreated a few steps back. Another gust of winter wind, stronger than the last, brushed past the bird and over the basket.

The harpy's fuzzy ears folded back when the basket let out a wail of distress and again wandered closer.

The dusty harpy raised one large talon over the child, who grabbed it playfully. The feathered being cocked a brow, confused.

'What are you? Why are you here? Who left you here?' these and many more questions ran through the hapry's head as he inspected the child. It looked very human, but it was tiny, soft and squishy. The realization struck the large bird like a stone and he gasped.

'You're a baby! A human baby!' never throughout his entire life, had the harpy ever thought that humans started out so small and frail. But to be fair, the harpy didn't get to see many children at all. He sometimes saw his younger siblings from time to time, but his protective mother never allowed him a proper look until they were much older.

The thought of one sibling in particular uplifted the ragged harpy. His name was Marco, and he was a very special child. He inherited his grandfather's gift of shape shifting, and his father's of fire.

The older harpy let out a soft sound, much like a chuckle, as he looked back down at the baby who looked back up at him with wide chocolate eyes. The harpy frowned, noticing a small trembling in the poor creature's tiny frame. It was cold. A flash of anger went through his body.

How dare they? How dare those damn humans abandon one of their own kind, a child no less!? The harpy shook his head, snarling. He bent over, pulling the blankets over the child's body to protect it from the cold as he then grabbed the handle of the woven basket with his teeth and dashed down the hill. Flying was too risky for the babe.

Once the harpy reached his cavern, he settled the human at the back of the cave, away from the snow that began to fall again. He looked at the baby, who still shivered, and growled with frustration. He could see the child's eyes drooping, and did not take it as a good sign. It was cold, it needed warmth.

The harpy sighed and sat next to the basket. Somehow, with only two thumbs and no actual hands, the adult pulled the trembling bundle out of the basket and held it against his chest. He watched the baby's cheeks regain a rosy color and the ice crystals in its coal black hair melt away as it snuggled against his warm brown feathers, yawning. The harpy's lips twitched.

"G'night, kid." his voice was hoarse, he didn't use it often. Not since…

The harpy shook his head and rolled onto his side, hugging the child close to keep it warm. His eyes felt heavy as he watched the sleeping child. Soon he fell into a dreamless slumber.

I could've done better on this chapter but I'm too lazy.


	2. Chapter 2

A wretched smell wafted up into the dusty harpy's nostrils, which caused him to stir. His eyes burst open when a shriek pierced his all-too-sensitive ears, and he looked down and the black haired baby in his grasp.

The bird gagged at the horrid smell the child let off, and figured it did what any living creature had to do.

With a sigh, the harpy sat up and inspected the child. Sure enough, it did soil itself. The harpy groaned and sat back on his heels as he delicately pulled the weird gross white thing off of the child's rear by tearing at the sides of the object.

The harpy quickly disposed the thing by flinging it away from the edge of his den. He almost gave a sigh of relief when his nose was free from the smell.

But he wasn't done. He still needed to save his ears from the human's crying.

Almost on cue, a flash of fiery orange and yellow caught his eyes before he could do anything, and soon he was staring down at the dark skinned face of a smaller harpy, one of his little brothers, Marco.

"Daemon," the brightly colored teenage started "the fuck is a human baby doing in your nest?!" he almost shrieked, affected by the sound of the human's cries and not looking happy about its presence.

Daemon shuffled on his large talons nervously. He had been hoping no one would visit him, already being an oddball and now keeping a human child with him.

Marco growled, his yellow tinted eyes turned to the baby "Are you really keeping that thing? Honestly brother, you hardly have any experience with youngsters at all, so how do you expect this thing to live?"

Daemon visibly bristled as his younger yet stronger brother stalked over to the baby and looked it over, even nudging its legs away to inspect the gender as he muttered "I bet you don't even know it's female."

Unfortunately that was true. Daemon did not know the child's gender until now. Well, that would make it easier to name, at least.

The child, now having screamed out all her energy, was reduced to whimpering and whining as she rubbed her chubby hands over her face.

Marco frowned as he looked at his brother "You need to get rid of it."

Daemon bristled even further, now appearing as a mutant porcupine with a freakish human face. Marco stared straight into his eyes as the two siblings held some sort of staring contest. Surprisingly it was Marco who looked away first.

"Fine. Keep it. See if I care. But I can tell you know jack shit about mammalian offspring. Like the food they require at this age." Marco slightly waved a wing towards the wriggling child. Daemon raised a brow.

"And I suppose you know more than I?" Daemon rasped, earning a chuckle from Marco.

"I'll have you know, my best friend is a centaur and she tends to tell and show me a lot." the smaller of the two retorted. The older held his head up as if challenging Marco and show him what he knew, to which the teenager took up the challenge.

"I'll go get some food, while you stay and keep an eye on the human brat." Marco commanded as he strutted towards the cliff's edge and took off, leaving his big brother with the unhappy child.

...

Marco returned with a bag strapped over his chest. He eyed Daemon with a look of distaste as he was curled with a wing over the child.

"I'll admit you know how to comfort the brat." Marco muttered as his wings morphed into somewhat human like arms. They looked like his talons, only with shorter fingers and five on each hand.

"Her name's Zuri, by the way." Daemon smiled proudly as he held his head high. Marco scoffed and rolled his eyes.

"I don't care of her name is Dumbass, she's Brat to me." Daemon frowned but said nothing as his fiery tempered brother set the bag onto the floor and began to show him its contents.

…

At last, Zuri was happy as she greedily downed the bottle's contents.

Marco had explained all that he needed to know and took his leave, not wanting to be anywhere near the human for a while, though he did promise he'd come visit every now and then.

Daemon yawned, his eyelids feeling heavy as he watched Viri finish off her meal blinked drowsily.

Daemon looked outside, having not eaten since that morning. He glanced at the now sleeping bundle of blankets in the nest. A part of the ragged harpy didn't want to leave the child behind, but the stronger half reasoned that the baby would be fine for a few minutes alone.

…

Nearly half an hour passed when Daemon rushed back into his cave. He was gone longer than he'd planned to, and was expecting Zuri to be crying or worse, gone.

Though to his relief, she was alright. The small baby was still in her basket and kicking at her peachy blankets with a look of frustration. Once her chocolate eyes met Daemon's forest green, she stopped and began cooing loudly, her arms reaching out for her strange guardian. The bird smiled and rolled his eyes, sitting next to the basket and rocking it slowly with a talon.

Zuri giggled and tugged at Daemon's feathers.

Within a few minutes she had fallen asleep, her new father kissed her forehead and curled around her to keep her warm.


End file.
